These verses describe
some interesting conditions and happenings about the end of the Millennium,
which I find fascinating to think about:
110 And
so on, until the seventh angel shall sound his trump; and he shall stand forth
upon the land and upon the sea, and swear in the name of him who sitteth upon
the throne, that there shall be time no longer; and Satan shall be bound, that
old serpent, who is called the devil, and shall not be loosed for the space of
a thousand years.
111 And
then he shall be loosed for a little season, that he may gather together his
armies.
112 And
Michael, the seventh angel, even the archangel, shall gather together his
armies, even the hosts of heaven.
113 And
the devil shall gather together his armies; even the hosts of hell, and shall
come up to battle against Michael and his armies.
114 And
then cometh the battle of the great God; and the devil and his armies shall be
cast away into their own place, that they shall not have power over the saints
any more at all.
115 For
Michael shall fight their battles, and shall overcome him who seeketh the
throne of him who sitteth upon the throne, even the Lamb. (D&C 88:110-115)
Verse 110 tells us Satan will be bound and not loosed again
for 1000 years. One of the things that binds Satan is when he and his
temptations are completely ignored. If no one listens, he has no power.
Verse 111 tells us that Satan will be loosed for a little
season and allowed to gather together his armies. That means that people start
giving into temptation again, which is sad. So there will be some apostasy
similar to that described in 4 Nephi.
However, Satan will not be unopposed.
Verse 112 tells us that Michael the seventh angel (or
archangel) will gather his armies, the hosts of heaven. We know that Michael is
also Adam. So we’ll have the resurrected Adam and all the first-fruits of the
resurrection still living on the earth since they were resurrected at the
beginning.
It seems absolutely incredible to me that people would
apostatize even with resurrected beings—prophets, Saints, and
once-martyrs—still living among them!
It’s insanity! But it seems
to be the case.
Verse 113 tells us the devil will gather the hosts of hell
and come up to battle against Michael and his armies. I notice it is the wicked
who initiate the attack, not the righteous.
Verse 114 says there will be “the battle of the great God”
and the devil and his armies will be cast away to their own place and have no
more power over the Saints.
Now, I have to wonder what idiot will have decided it is a
good idea to fight against godly, resurrected beings who can’t die any
more. Obviously mortal apostates
can’t win against that! But maybe
they would be deceived into thinking that the resurrected are defenseless
because of the profound concern for life they exhibit. Maybe the apostates will
think the resurrected will choose to suffer anything rather than defend
themselves by taking any life. (Because after all, if you take life, you’ve
just ended someone’s probationary period and they might have repented.)
Still, the battles have to be fought for the sakes of those mortals who
are still righteous.
Verse 115 says Michael will fight the Saints’ battles. This
is an interesting modification on the usual assurance that the Lord would fight
our battles. From the perspective
of righteous immortals, it would make sense to have a policy of choosing just
one resurrected person to do all the fighting (since one immortal is more than
a match for any number of mortals).
No overwhelming show of numbers is necessary.
I found myself asking why this was all made known so far in
the future if we wouldn’t have the change to see it happen in our lifetime. I
think it is part of the way that God proves He knows the end from the beginning
and prepares the way for various generations to build and exercise their faith
in Him. We look at prophecies made far in the past about the gathering of
Israel and we see them being fulfilled, so we exercise faith that God will
continue to fulfill what He has said will happen in the near future and in the
far future. It will also give
future Saints just as much reason to read our modern scriptures to see what has
been said of them.
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